There is a wealth of advice, some professional and modular, suitable for tailoring, and some common-sense that demands one dispatch with mistake-prone sentimentalities and panic, regarding managing one's personal finances and home-economics. There also seems to be, however, a terminal severing of connections pervading otherwise good tips. The utility of money (and that's all it is, a utility, like electricity and water and heat--essential and essentially takes care of itself) diminishes with an embarrassment of riches, as the cost (and perhaps the worth, as well) of things approaches zero. On the other hand, juggling sacrifices makes one unable to plan and budget and look inward to the narrow horizon of those same sentimentalities and panic. There is a disconnect on both ends of the spectrum, which just exacerbates the situation all around and perpetuates gentrification.
Often, one is commended to pay oneself first, which is helpful and positive and makes one make the conscious decision to negotiate the obligations and think about savings--though savings at its poor rate of return is usually at odds with paying down debt, whose interest negates the benefit of savings. A third of one's income should probably be sequestered, however, and with a tangible goal in mind--paying forward, paying off one's loans, saving for a home, and not just some comfort-zone where the worth of things is reduced to specks. All of this takes some discipline to execute and pays off in the end. Some people, the day-trader and the generally nervous set, I think however need something more immediate, creeping but visible and effective. One should still set aside something for the future first and then corral what's needed for essentials and make do with the rest, and perhaps a way to do that--and not forget the value of a dollar, would be to tax oneself. After all, all levels of government, in war and peace, have been funding all of their activity, maybe up until very recently though creditors have always been around too, through tax revenues. One should follow one's bank statement with a critical eye and levy a financial transaction tax against each withdraw, say of 1%, and place a duty on other items according to utility, endurance and necessity. Tax at 10% gifts not budgeted for and 100% that extra coffee bought at the gas station out of laziness when a little planning would have saved some money. Depending on how easily one can transfer between accounts, calculate one's tax by the week or the day and sock it away in savings. With punishingly regressive rates and arbitrary vice-taxes, one can be as austere and byzantine as one wishes, since it's one's own money, just rescued from the general fund and a good reminder of how one is spending his or her income and financing purchases.
